After studying this unit, the student will:

Basic Clinical Laboratory Techniques, 6e Barbara Estridge, Anna Reynolds (Solutions Manual All Chapter)

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© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

UNIT 1

The Clinical Laboratory

UNIT OBJECTIVES

After studying this unit, the student will:

• Discuss the regulation, organization, and function of the clinical laboratory.• Discuss the qualifications, job functions, and ethical responsibilities of clinical laboratory personnel.• Identify and define selected abbreviations and acronyms commonly used in the clinical laboratory.• Identify, define, and use prefixes, suffixes, and stems in selected medical terms.• Discuss and implement laboratory safety rules that must be followed to guard against biological, chemical, and physical hazards.• Identify common types of labware and demonstrate their correct uses.• Discuss and demonstrate safe use of general laboratory equipment.• Use the metric system to perform measurements and calculations.• Use laboratory math to prepare simple laboratory reagents.• Discuss the importance and use of quality assessment programs in the clinical laboratory.• Use the compound bright-field microscope.• Perform a capillary puncture.• Perform a venipuncture.

UNIT OVERVIEW

The clinical laboratory is a place where blood, body fluids, and other biological specimens are tested, analyzed, or evaluated. The observations can be qualitative or quantitative. The tests can be performed manually or using automated analyzers. Precise measurements are made and the results 2 / 4

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.are calculated and interpreted. Because of this, laboratory workers must have the skills necessary to perform a variety of tasks.Unit 1 is an introduction to the laboratory environment as a workplace and to the profession of clinical laboratory science, also called medical laboratory science. Key concepts and procedures laboratory professionals need to know to work in the laboratory are described in the introductory unit.The regulation, organization, and function of the clinical laboratory are addressed in Lesson 1-1.Qualifications and job functions of laboratory personnel are reviewed in Lesson 1-2.As an introduction to the structure of medical terms, Lesson 1-3 gives basic information about medical terminology and abbreviations and acronyms used in the laboratory. As other units are studied, additional vocabulary terms will be introduced and defined.Two lessons on laboratory safety (Lessons 1-4 and 1-5) are included in Unit 1 because workers must understand and follow all safety procedures and practices before any laboratory exercises can be performed. Every worker in the clinical laboratory must be thoroughly aware of potential hazards in the workplace and must perform tasks in a manner that keeps them, coworkers, and patients safe.The correct and safe use of general laboratory equipment such as centrifuges, pH meters, autoclaves, and laboratory balances is described in Lesson 1-6. Also explained is the care, use, and cleaning of frequently used labware such as beakers, cylinders, test tubes, and flasks.Because laboratory analyses use metric units, a brief introduction to the metric system is given in Lesson 1-7. Knowledge of the metric system is required for exercises in other units.Basic laboratory calculations, methods of reagent preparation, and the correct use of pipets are explained in Lesson 1-8.Principles, methods, and procedures for ensuring the reliability and accuracy of laboratory analyses are presented in Lesson 1-9, Quality Assessment. These quality assessment principles are included in Unit 1 because they must be integrated into all aspects of laboratory operations, from employee training and evaluation to specimen collection and processing, specimen analysis, and interpretation and reporting of results.The proper care and use of the microscope is included in Unit 1 (Lesson 1-10) because knowledge of its use is required for lessons in the microbiology, hematology, urinalysis, and parasitology units. Lessons 1-11 and 1-12 introduce techniques for collecting capillary and venous blood.Unit 1 is an introduction to the techniques, rules, and skills needed to perform the exercises in Units 2 through 8. Unit 1 can also be used alone as an introduction to the profession of clinical laboratory science. After Unit 1 has been completed, the remaining units can be studied in order of the instructor’s preference depending on available time, laboratory space, and equipment. 3 / 4

© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

LESSON 1-1

Introduction to the Clinical Laboratory

LESSON OBJECTIVES

After studying this lesson, the student will:

• Explain the function of a medical or clinical laboratory.• Discuss the organization of a typical hospital clinical laboratory.• Describe the functions of the different levels of laboratory personnel.• List the major departments of a typical clinical laboratory and name a test that would be performed in each department.• List three examples of nonhospital clinical laboratories and describe the function of each.• Explain how clinical laboratories are regulated.• Explain the relationships between Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA ’88), and clinical laboratories.• Discuss benefits of point-of-care (POC) testing.• Explain how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) affects the laboratory and laboratory workers.• Discuss the use and value of electronic health records (EHRs).• Describe the purpose and scope of quality assessment programs in the clinical laboratory.• Explain the reason for proficiency testing.• Explain the purpose of laboratory accreditation.• Define the glossary terms.

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